Couple charged with cover-up

Dirk Perrefort

Updated 10:49 pm, Monday, January 21, 2013

DANBURY -- A local woman who reported her Jeep Grand Cherokee stolen and the husband who police said accidentally drove the vehicle down an embankment hours earlier were charged Monday, authorities said.

Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Michael said a report came in Friday at approximately 8:30 a.m. from Bonnie Lacava, 36, of East Lake Road, that her '99 Jeep Grand Cherokee had been stolen.

Upon further investigation, however, police found the vehicle at an embankment off South King Street and determined that Lacava's husband, Venkatraman Pillari, had been driving the Jeep at the time of the accident earlier Friday morning.

Pillari, 58, of East Lake Road, was charged by police with evading responsibility, operating under a suspended license and traveling too fast for conditions.

He was released on a $500 bond and is expected to appear in state Superior Court in Danbury on Feb. 1.

Lacava was charged with giving a false statement and interfering with the duties of a police officer.

She was released on a written promise to appear in the Danbury court Feb. 1.